Saturday, July 6, 2013

6 July 2013 When it comes to slaughter

Cassi Creek:

Yesterday I
had the privilege – well, the experience - of watching an associate medical
examiner demonstrate his apparent lack of any real ability to answer questions from
attorneys without looking both incompetent and indecisive..

The question
was raised about how much separation existed between the muzzle of G. Zimmeran’s
hand gun and the body of T. Martin when the single fatal shot was fired. The ballistics tech had described the injury
as a contact shot due to wound shape, stippling, and other factors. The ME who performed the post-mortem exam
apparently has developed a classification system of his own that varies from
the ballistics determination and the accepted forensic pathology definitions .
Combined with his less than stellar English, his insistence upon talking
over questions, and his non-adherence to standard forensic practices and
procedures, he turned in a performance that would cause me, if I were a juror,
to question his competence. Normally, I don’t
watch televised trials. However, the
forensics in this case will win or lose it and I have always had an interest in
forensic pathology and other forensic studies..

“Forensic Pathology of Firearm Wounds

The expert medicolegal examination of
firearm wounds may allow determination of several aspects of these injuries,
including the following[2]:

·Range of fire

·Type of weapon used to inflict the
injury

·Trajectory of the missile or
projectile

·Type and extent of the injuries inflicted by the
projectile(s)

Range
of fire

Range of fire, or muzzle to target
distance, may be divided into contact,
near contact, intermediate, and distant categories, with various subtypes also
demonstrable. Contact and intermediate range wounds are often collectively
referred to as close-range wounds.

Determination of range of fire is based
on the characteristics of a firearm wound, features of the wound that have been
imparted by material issuing from the muzzle of the firearm other than the
bullet, or from features due to direct interactions between the target and the
firearm itself. Material from the firearm muzzle may take the form of soot, hot
gas, gunpowder particles, or other material, and the effects of this material
are discussed in more detail below.[5]The
range of fire has obvious relevance to such issues as whether a wound is
self-inflicted or inflicted by another person, the truth of proffered
explanations of shooting events, and the validity of self-defense arguments.”